Cash strapped CCGs ask GPs not to refer some patients to hospital

GPs will be asked to avoid referring some patients to secondary care as part of a strict programme of service rationing tabled by NHS bosses in west London.

The North West London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups has also proposed cutting the number of outpatient appointments, restricting consultant to consultant referrals, and “repatriating” elective operations from specialist centres outside the area to local hospitals to help tackle a projected £112m (€125m; $140m) deficit for 2019-20—more than double the £51m the collaboration had forecast at the start of the financial year.

The CCGs, which commission care for two million patients, said that “difficult choices” were needed, as local finances had worsened significantly …